Democracy in Color with Steve Phillips

Following Tuesday’s announcement from VP Kamala Harris that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz would be joining the campaign as her running mate, Steve and Sharline get together for an “emergency” podcast episode to discuss their thoughts and reactions.

House Rep. Ruben Gallego joins the podcast to talk about his Senate campaign against Republican Kari Lake to replace former Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema and what a path to victory looks like in November. Recorded well before the most recent political developments, this race remains critical to holding the Senate and being able to govern and advance a progressive agenda in 2025.  He shares his...

Lawyer and PolicyLink Founder-in-Residence Angela Glover Blackwell discusses her new podcast project, Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life, a six-part series that illustrates the potential of our democracy, using L.A. as an example of what is possible when people come together to create change.  She shares her journey from growing up in a segregated St. Louis, MO in the 1950s and 60s to her role...

Happy Pride! Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist Imara Jones shares the origins of her multimedia company TransLash Media and the role of storytelling and narrative in preserving the humanity of trans people. She breaks down how and why the fight for trans rights has become the focus of American politics in recent years, and she discusses the role of journalists in covering trans issues. She...

In collaboration with the Bay Area Book Festival, we’re broadcasting the powerful conversation between Steve, Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell, and former co-executive director of the Highlander Center, Ash-lee Woodard Henderson about Steve’s book How We Win the Civil War.  Moderated by former podcast guest and congressional candidate Lateefah Simon, the panelists each dis...

Introducing our funniest guest yet: Solo performance artist, comedian, and actress Kristina Wong joins the podcast to talk about her path to theater (including her brief stint as an elected Koreatown, LA official), and how her creation of the “Auntie Sewing Squad” helped her and many others survive the pandemic. She discusses her play Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, a 2022 Pulitzer finalist in...

Arizona legend-in-the-making Raquel Téran talks about her bid for Congress and her decades-long work to help turn the state into a shining example of what progressive organizing (and winning) looks like. Raquel shares her journey to politics and the issues she plans to lift up in Congress. She also shares why she believes building coalitions and mobilizing voters are key to protecting democracy an...

Care in Action’s Hillary Holley shares how the organization is mobilizing domestic workers, most of whom are women of color and immigrants, and pushing Democrats to embrace a Care Agenda in Congress. She shares insight on the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights which was introduced to Congress in 2021. She also shares her path to organizing and discusses her role in helping Stacey Abrams buil...

March Madness may be over but we’re gearing up for a…Narrow November with our very own set of 16 congressional districts that have the potential to flip the balance of power in the House of Representatives.  Data expert Dr. Julie Martínez Ortega joins Steve and Sharline to discuss the updated New Majority Index (NMI) and which districts they’ll be watching closely ahead of November elections.  Ref...

Lateefah Simon—Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) board member, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, and Congressional candidate—shares her path to politics, including her work with Vice President Kamala Harris during Harris’ time as San Francisco Attorney General.  Lateefah shares why she decided to run for office and offers insight on how grief has been a catalyst for her political work and activism....

Sarah Alvarez, founder of Outlier Media, a Detroit-based service journalism organization, shares what she’s hearing on the ground in Michigan following the protest  “uncommitted” vote by more than 100,000 people during the state’s recent Democratic presidential primary.  She shares what role today’s journalists must play in filling information gaps at the local level, and why nonprofit news organi...

Steve and Sharline celebrate the release of the paperback edition of How We Win the Civil War, which comes out Tuesday, March 12. They discuss how the political landscape has changed since the first edition launched in 2022 and why How We Win is more pertinent now than ever.  They also discuss the book’s reception since its first release and the exciting partnerships that have developed with group...

Award-winning journalist and editor-at-large at The 19th News Errin Haines joins us to talk about her game-changing work at the digital news startup centered on gender, politics, and policy. She also talks about Breaking the News—a documentary that chronicles the origins of The 19th—which debuted on PBS this week. Errin shares some of the publication’s history-making moments, including her early c...

Solano Community College’s Vice President of Student Affairs Lisa Neeley discusses her work at Solano and the California college’s commitment to Black students and other students of color in the face of increasing backlash against DEI efforts.  Neeley talks about Solano’s programs and processes to ensure equity and inclusion such as the Black Falcons Success Program and her hopes for other higher...

Back for a third episode, former mayor of Stockton, California and friend of our show Michael Tubbs returns to update Steve and Sharline on his inspiring and rapidly growing effort to end poverty in America and to help bring Dr. King’s vision for a just and equitable society to fruition. Michael talks about his award-winning 2023 documentary “It’s Basic”, which follows several universal basic inco...

In the first of what will be several episodes throughout this year focused on the 2024 election cycle, Steve and Sharline frame up the Republican presidential primary calendar and what they’ll be watching as results roll in. The New York Times’ Astead Herndon also phones in from Iowa where he’s preparing to cover the Republican Iowa Caucus and discusses the current state of the race, his analysis...

2023 has come and gone! If you missed any of our episodes this year, this is the one to tune into as Steve, Sharline, and Fola share highlights from some of their favorite episodes this year. The team also shares what’s on their minds and in their hearts as they look to 2024.  See you in the new year! REFERENCES: Episodes mentioned The 1619 Project’s Shoshana Guy Is On the Record Heather Booth: Wh...

Are you curious about what a truly powerful (and progressive) alternative political party could look like in the U.S? National Director of the Working Families Party Maurice Mitchell returns to talk about what it means to create a multiracial and multicultural progressive, working-class party and what that looks like strategically within a two-party system. He discusses WFP’s 25-year history, the...

Washington Post opinion editor Alexi McCammond dives into the changing digital news landscape and the role of traditional, legacy news media in reaching newer, more diverse (and often, more progressive) audiences. She sheds light on the disconnect she’s seeing between older left-leaning politicians and young people, and her expectations from a coalition of young voters and people of color as the 2...

Former Obama staffer and founder of EquisLabs Stephanie Valencia discusses her path to politics and why Latino voters are the “X factor” in today’s political landscape. She explains how political strategists should think about the expansive and diverse Latino electorate, and what progressives are getting right and wrong about engaging with Latino voters.  She also explains the creation of the Lati...

Spooky season is upon us! Actress and activist Beth Broderick, best known for her role as Aunt Zelda in the 1996 hit TV show Sabrina the Teenage Witch, joins Steve and Sharline to talk about the ongoing actors’ strike, the power of narrative, and her life’s journey at the intersection of politics and entertainment. Beth discusses her decades-long involvement in progressive and social causes, the l...

Steve takes the hot seat as a guest on his own show in this penultimate episode of our special podcast series! Steve and Sharline discuss his forthcoming book How We Win the Civil War and how the concept developed over the last few years.  Sharline shares how she and Steve came to be a book publishing power team, and Steve discusses the formative experiences that have shaped his work and his path...

Rhiana Gunn-Wright, a key architect of the Green New Deal and one of our nation’s leading figures in the fight for climate justice, joins the podcast to talk about what a green transition can and should look like in the U.S.    Rhiana shares her path to the climate movement and how the Inflation Reduction Act leaves Black people behind. She also breaks down the importance of policy-making in the g...

School is back in session!  Our in-house data expert, Dr. Julie Martinez Ortega, joins Steve and Sharline for a data deep dive into the electoral landscapes of Kentucky and Mississippi, two states in the heartland of America with unique opportunities for Democrats to lean in and win this November. We also touch on Virginia for a quick discussion about the state legislature races also happening thi...

It’s our 100th episode!  Erin Heaney, executive director of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), joins us to discuss the role of white allyship in the fight for justice and a multiracial democracy.  Erin shares her path to organizing, her hopes for SURJ, and details on the White Stripe Project—a new initiative between the Sandler Phillips Center, the Working Families Party and SURJ focused on inc...